9/11 wreckage sculpture left to rust on a farm will get new home at Olympic Park

 
New home: The sculpture, left, will be installed at the Olympic Park
Pippa Crerar9 September 2013

A dramatic sculpture made from the twisted girders of the Twin Towers is to be given a permanent home in the Olympic Park.

The haunting artwork - sent to the UK as a reminder of the horrors of 9/11 - had been left to rust in a Cambridgeshire farmyard after London councils refused to display it.

Although it was briefly erected in Battersea Park in 2011 it was removed just weeks later and since then its backers have struggled to find a new site.

But now Boris Johnson, who supported the original drive to bring the 28ft metal sculpture to London, has stepped in to offer it a permanent home.

“We backed the 9/11 project when the sculpture first came to Battersea but finding a permanent home for it has proved incredibly difficult, whether it be opposition from boroughs or bureaucrats. Clearly this can’t continue,” he said.

“As a result I’ve asked my team to find a permanent home for the sculpture on the Olympic Park. The Park was home to a Games based on tolerance, harmony and respect, and will soon be home to a massive multi-dimensional and vibrant community - the perfect riposte to those who sought to divide the world on 9/11.”

Historian Simon Schama, one of the project’s backers, welcomed the announcement. “It’s really wonderful, I’m overjoyed. We’ve been working for years to try and secure a permanent site for it and that’s really heartening. I think it’s a truly fitting location,” he said.

Patricia Bingley, 78, whose son Kevin died on 9/11, said: “It’s been quite a long time coming, but at last we’ve got a home for it. I think it’s a lovely place to put it. The Olympics was a big thing for Britain and lots of people still go there regularly. The sculpture is such history and it’s a tribute to the people that died.”

The artwork is made from one of 2,000 scraps that were recovered from Ground Zero and was sent over from New York in 2011 on the understanding that it would always be on display.

The twisted metal was initially unveiled in Battersea Park to mark the attack’s tenth anniversary, but after just 28 days it was taken down.

Planning permission was then granted for the piece, designed by Asian-American artist Miya Ando, to be erected in Potters Field Park – next to City Hall.

However, the management trust that leases the land there blocked the display.

The project organisers claim that since then every council in London has since refused to house the artwork or ignored requests to discuss hosting it.

For the past few years the memorial has been abandoned in a farmyard in Cambridgeshire but just weeks ago it was moved to a storage depot in Ruislip.

Campaigners who helped raise money for the piece to be created and shipped over to London have been demanding that it is finally put on show for good.

Before the announcement, Peter Rosengard, who founded educational charity the 9/11 London Project, said: “The artwork is still in storage as nowhere can be found to put it. It’s an insult to those who died and it causes me great sadness that the UK has not found a place for it.”

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